


What Is Family For?

by AngeNoir



Category: Protector of the Small - Tamora Pierce
Genre: F/M, Family, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Relationship Discussions, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-21
Updated: 2015-12-21
Packaged: 2018-05-08 03:15:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5481245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngeNoir/pseuds/AngeNoir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neal was not expecting to see horses from the Third Company picketed outside of the offices at New Haven. He supposed he should have expected to see his kinsman, though.</p><p>Neal watches Dom follow Kel with his eyes, and Neal grew up with Dom. He knows what that means.</p><p>It's time for a small talk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Is Family For?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GVSpurlock](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GVSpurlock/gifts).



> I really hope this is somewhat close to what you wanted.

There was a tugging at his arm, and it bothered him enough that he looked up from his work in exasperation. The new girl, Arayella, was standing there nervously, fingers frozen on his sleeve.

“Well?” he said, doing his best to keep his voice tempered even though he was in the middle of writing up his reports on the monthly checks on their squads. She was a recent addition to New Hope and was still finding her voice and strength after hellish months traveling from the war zone to this refugee camp.

“The Lady Knight sent a messenger for you,” she said quietly, fingers dropping from his sleeve.

He let out a sigh and gazed at the paperwork splayed out over his desk. Technically, his ‘workday’ was over; it was well after supper, the inhabitants of New Hope were taking part in some contest or the other to keep both their spirits up and their skills sharp, and he should be watching or joining in, even. However, the cleaning crew was still in the infirmary, sweeping the floors, replacing the sheets on the few beds, and in general just tidying up the area to keep it clean and sterile. It was an easy job, given to the elderly or the very young – or, in this girl’s case, the very shy. He liked to remain while they worked, doing a thorough inventory and any leftover paperwork from the day. And, since this was the last day of the camp-wide health check he had pushed Kel to institute to catch any problems before they became too difficult to fix, there was a lot of paperwork. He honestly hadn’t intended to leave the infirmary – he’d stayed in one of the medical cots often enough, and didn’t see the need to fuss. After all, he’d just walk across the yard into the officer quarters and fall on a cot no softer than the ones already near him.

Well. He’d have to deal with this tomorrow, then. “Nothing urgent, I presume?”

Arayella shook her head and returned to her laundry duties, yanking blankets off the cots and replacing them with fresh, clean ones. He nodded at Riza, the elderly lady who oversaw the cleaning crew in the infirmary, and exited the infirmary to blink at the flickering light illuminating the yard. There were horses picketed near the offices and Neal frowned, squinting in the dim light to try and make out the colors.

Then his shoulders slumped. Oh no.

Resigned, he made his way over to the offices and opened the general door to let an increase in sound assault his ears. There was raucous laughing, easy chatter. The Third Company were old friends, and Neal knew them well. Kel had trained with them, and enjoyed spending time with them. Overall, Neal didn’t mind them. He just minded—

“Meathead!”

—one of them.

“Dom,” he said dryly, turning around to see his cousin stepping out of the door he’d just passed on his way to get to Keladry. “I assume you’re here for a reason?”

Dom grinned in that damnably charming way. It had always struck Neal as patently unfair that he and Dom were practically identical in personality and desires, and yet it was Neal who almost always got in trouble for it. Somewhere along the way, the Trickster must have smiled on Dom, because Dom was always the good example, the cousin who respected his parents and did something meaningful with his life.

Of course, Dom didn’t have the high level of medical magic Neal had, but that was such a small difference that it shouldn’t even be mentioned.

“We’re on our way between posts, just a simple job, and we’d have ended up camping in the woods some marks north of here, but I figured it wouldn’t kill us to ride that extra bit and get behind real walls for one night. Get to visit you, have some peace.”

“No problems?” Neal couldn’t help prodding. “Nothing’s wrong?”

Dom’s face hardened imperceptibly, and then smoothed. “The war’s winding down, Neal. If the gods bless us, this time next year we’ll be out of these thrice-cursed woods.”

Neal met his cousin’s eyes for a few moments. He’d decided to be a knight, that the Queenscove family _always_ had a knight to serve the crown, but Dom didn’t have that same burden on him. He’d had the same drive, the same determination to excel in the martial arts, and he enjoyed doing so. Neal did not; Neal had always viewed physical exertion and altercations as both tiring and wasteful. It didn’t matter that Neal was good at it; he didn’t like it, and he didn’t chase after it in the way Dom had. Dom was not pressured to be a knight, and even though he could have become one, he decided to join the King’s Own. Neal had never understood that; it was a lot of thankless work, chasing after shadows more often than not, a standing army that busied itself with menial tasks when the crown was at peace. Sure, with more immortals in the world, there was definitely a military need for trained troops to care for the citizens, but Dom and the Third Company were more likely to be sent out to escort nobles or tax collectors than anything else.

But Dom had found something, there. And it meant that Neal watched his closest cousin grow away from him, and that he’d watched his cousin come face to face with horrors in this war and other skirmishes that led many a young man to quit the force and retire prematurely. It was that kind of look Dom had on his face now – one that told Neal how tired his brother was, how weary he was of the war that drained their soul.

“I need to see what Kel wants of me,” Neal began, which was when Kel stepped out of her quarters, talking quietly with one of the clerks, and her eyes fell on Neal.

“Neal!” she said quietly, her eyes lightening even though her face remained mostly blank. It was a curious habit, one that had led her to have cruel nicknames as a squire and one Neal wished he could replicate. He could never look half as convincing when telling a lie or bluffing as Kel could. “I worried you’d still be at your paperwork. Your kinsman is here – ah, I see you two found each other,” she added, noticing Dom past Neal in the hallway.

Neal felt the corner of his mouth tug up in a wry smile. “I doubt Dom would have let me pass without remarking upon me in some unfavorable way.”

“I see you two have things you need to complete—” Dom began, but Kel made a small, dismissive gesture. She was nowhere near as tall as Neal, but she was physically more imposing and more authoritative by far, and Dom paused.

“I called him because I thought a talk with you would do you good,” she said, and her face eased enough for a smile to curve her lips and her eyes to sparkle. Neal did his best not to let out an exasperated sigh – he had an idea about why she wanted him to talk to Dom, and honestly, he was _fine_ , he was allowed to be a bit high-strung when his wife was _expecting_ , thank you – and turned his head to glance at Dom in some half-remembered instinct to commiserate their manipulation at her hands, when he paused.

Dom was staring at Kel in a way Neal had only ever seen Dom stare at one other person, and that person had turned Dom down. Kindly, but firmly, and while Dom had had casual conquests over the years Neal had been around and known him, he never opened his heart in that way again. But he looked at Kel as if Kel was the sun, spreading warmth and cheer.

“I need to confer with your corporal anyway, Dom. You can use my quarters, or walk the grounds. Neal has probably been sitting all day again in any case and could use the exercise.” Kel moved past Neal, clapping him on the shoulder, and entered the door Dom had exited.

Neal raised an eyebrow at Dom, and Dom had the decency to flush, even if only a little. Before Neal could start in on Dom, however, Dom went on the offensive.

“What’s so wrong that your commanding officer thinks _I_ should speak with you?”

Neal let out a sigh and jerked his head to the door leading outside. After a moment, Dom inclined his head, and exited the officers building. Neal followed him out.

“So what are we doing out here?” Dom asked.

Neal tilted his head at the wall. “You can see pretty far from the top of the wall. And honestly,” he added in a grumble, “I’m tired of having my authority chuckled at. The furtther we can get from these ruffians, the better.”

At that, Dom laughed, and something in his eyes eased. “Everything’s okay with you, then?”

Now at the top of the wall, Neal leaned his forearms on the top and looked out over the cleared and plowed land. “I – I mean, I exchange letters with Yuki, a lot of letters. She’s pregnant, you know?”

Dom rolled his eyes and bumped his shoulder against Neal’s. “No, I had no idea, you’ve only mentioned it in every letter home _ever_ ,” he teased.

“Well, I’m just – waiting until I can go and see her again. Which _Kel_ claims makes me mopey—”

“Merric claims it too, so…” Dom said pointedly, laughing when Neal huffed. “Is that it? Kel didn’t specify, just said that you needed someone to talk to.”

“I think _you_ need someone to talk to,” Neal cut in, glad to finally go on the offensive. “Does Kel know?”

To Dom’s credit, he only looked down for a brief moment before looking up. “She’s… I don’t know how to explain, Neal.”

“You don’t have to. You look how I feel about Yuki, in some way,” Neal murmured.

Dom leaned his back against the wall, facing the fort instead of the land beyond. “She… I mean, I watched her grow up. It should be wrong, shouldn’t it? But she’s strong, and she made _Wyldon_ back down. Raoul would give his life for her, and she would give it for him. She’s a great jouster, she’s absolutely fierce, and she just – she says what she means, you know? She’s just…”

“She’s stubborn, she’s an idealistic idiot sometimes, and there are absolutely times where her mouth goes faster than she can back up. She’s also not one to tell you when she’s mad; she figures she has to deal with that on her own. That sometimes means she’s passive-aggressive, which can be a hassle, let me tell you,” Neal countered.

Dom looked at him, affronted. “What’s the point of saying all that?” he demanded.

“To show you that she’s human, just like you. Your age difference isn’t all that big, and you have shared experience. I mean, gods above, you are both commanders and used to having to manage many people in a combat situation. You learned that _with_ one another.” Neal clapped Dom’s back awkwardly. “You’ll be fine.”

Dom’s eyes were far away, staring at the officer’s building, and Neal sighed. “Did you tell her you’re interested?” he asked.

With a small shrug, Dom shook his head. “I want – I want to give her options. She and Cleon of Kennan, they were very close. I don’t want to interrupt anything. And even now – I mean, Blayce is dead, but this war is still dragging on. I go where my lord needs me to, and even if the war was over tomorrow, she’ll still be here until her refugees are resettled and stable. You know how she is. And – I’m happy with my position in life, you know? I’m part of the Own. I’m glad to be here, but she’s a knight. She’ll have nothing with me beyond my pension, really. Yeah, I have some small lands, but—”

Neal turned around, put his hands on Dom’s shoulders, jerked his cousin out of his speech. “Look at me, in the eye, and tell me _Keladry_ of Mindelan would care one whit about any of that. Whether she’s interested or not, well, that’s something you’ll need to figure out, but honestly? You think she’d mind waiting? That she cares what her position is? This is someone who was determined to repeat her entire page years just for her maid. She’s determined to be a knight. Do you think she’ll mind waiting?”

Dom met Neal’s gaze searchingly, and in his eyes there was both hope and cautious acceptance. “That is who she is.”

“Exactly. She inspires me to be better, Dom, and you know how hard that is, right? Even the Lioness couldn’t get me to do half the crazy antics she did. She puts us where we’ll be the most useful. But you already know everything she’s good at. So what’s really bothering you?” Neal asked.

A heartbeat went by, then two. Then Dom laughed, a small, breathless thing that lifted Neal’s spirits. “Nothing, I guess,” he said, and he gripped Neal close, pressed his forehead against Neal’s. “Thank you, cousin.”

“Tell Kel that there’s no need to keep fussing over me; my wife is pregnant. I’m going to be worried. There’s nothing she can do,” Neal countered.

With another, deeper laugh, Dom nodded. “Of course, cousin. That, I can do.”


End file.
